It's So Easy: And Other Lies

In 1984, at the age of 20, Duff McKagan left his native Seattle - partly to pursue music, but mainly to get away from a host of heroin overdoses then-decimating his closest group of friends in the local punk scene. In LA only a few weeks and still living in his car, he answered a want ad for a bass player placed by someone who identified himself only as "Slash." Soon after, the most dangerous band in the world was born. Guns N' Roses went on to sell more than 100 million albums worldwide.

My Life with Deth: Discovering Meaning in a Life of Rock and Roll

In My Life with Deth, cofounder and bassist of Megadeth David Ellefson reveals the behind-the-scenes details of life in one of the world's most popular heavy metal bands. If you're looking for revelations, they're here, including the drug habits that brought the band members to their knees. You'll learn of David's unsuccessful attempts at rehab and the period when he was strung out on methadone, cocaine, and heroin - all at the same time.

Alice in Chains: The Untold Story

Alice in Chains was the first of grunge's big four - ahead of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden - to get a gold record and achieve national recognition. With the charismatic Layne Staley behind the microphone, they became one of the most influential and successful bands to come out of the Seattle music scene. But as the band got bigger, so did its problems.

How to Be a Man: (and Other Illusions)

Duff McKagan is one of the most respected survivors in hard rock. In How to Be a Man, he shares the wisdom he gained on the path to superstardom - from his time with Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver to getting sober after a life of hard living to achieving his personal American dream of marrying a supermodel, raising a family, and experiencing what it's like to be winked at by Prince.

Into the Black: The Inside Story of Metallica, 1991-2014

The second volume of Metallica's definitive biography opens as the band breaks through to mainstream with its fifth album, Metallica (a.k.a. The Black Album), topping the Billboard charts and its hit single "Enter Sandman" dominating the airwaves. By 1993, after a two-year tour, Metallica had become the biggest hard-rock band in the world. Success naturally brought new challenges, and the band ran the risk of alienating its original fans.

Peter J. MacDonald II says:"The life of Metallica what more could you ask."

Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath

Iron Man chronicles the story of both pioneering guitarist Tony Iommi and legendary band Black Sabbath, dubbed "The Beatles of heavy metal" by Rolling Stone.Iron Man reveals the man behind the icon yet still captures Iommi's humor, intelligence, and warmth. He speaks honestly and unflinchingly about his rough-and-tumble childhood, the accident that almost ended his career, his failed marriages, personal tragedies, battles with addiction, bandmates, famous friends, newfound daughter, and the ups and downs of his life as an artist.

A Perfect Union of Contrary Things

This is the official authorized biography of musician and vintner Maynard James Keenan, the enigmatic vocalist for Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer. Co-author Sarah Jensen's 30-year friendship with Keenan gives her unique insight into his history and career trajectory. The book traces Keenan's journey from his Midwest childhood to his years in the army to his time in art school, from his stint at a Boston pet shop to his place in the international spotlight and his influence on contemporary music and regional winemaking.

Dancing with Myself

An early architect of punk rock's sound, style, and fury, whose lip-curling sneer and fist-pumping persona vaulted him into pop's mainstream as one of MTV's first megastars, Billy Idol remains, to this day, a true rock 'n' roll icon. Now, in his long-awaited autobiography, Dancing with Myself, Idol delivers an electric, searingly honest account of his journey to fame - from his early days as front man of the pioneering UK punk band Generation X to the decadent life atop the dance-rock kingdom he ruled.

This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography, and Life Through the Distorted Lens of Nikki Sixx

This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography And Life Through The Distorted Lens Of Nikki Sixx, is all Nikki Sixx. It is a collection of compelling photography and stories that capture the rage, love, optimism, darkness, and determination that shape his work.

Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock

Loud rock, fast cars, and Cabo. This is the life of Sammy Hagar. For almost 40 years, Sammy Hagar has been a fixture in rock music. From breaking into the industry with the band Montrose to his multiplatinum solo career to his ride as the front man of Van Halen, Sammy's powerful and unforgettable voice has set the tone for some of the greatest rock anthems ever written - songs like "I Can't Drive 55", "Right Now", and "Why Can't This Be Love".

Face the Music: A Life Exposed

In Face the Music, Paul Stanley - the co-founder and famous "Starchild" frontman of KISS - reveals for the first time the incredible highs and equally incredible lows in his life both inside and outside the band. Face the Music is the shocking, funny, smart, inspirational story of one of rock’s most enduring icons and the group he helped create, define, and immortalize. Stanley mixes compelling personal revelations and gripping, gritty war stories that will surprise even the most steadfast member of the KISS Army.

Rocks: My Life in and out of Aerosmith

In Rocks, Joe Perry exposes his unrepentant, unbridled life as the lead guitarist of Aerosmith. He delves deep into his volatile, profound, and enduring relationship with singer Steve Tyler and reveals the real people behind the larger-than-life rock gods onstage. The nearly five-decade saga of Aerosmith is epic, at once a study in brotherhood and solitude that plays out on the killing fields of rock and roll.

Scar Tissue

As lead singer and songwriter for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Anthony Kiedis has lived life on the razor's edge. Much has been written about him, but until now we've only had his songs as clues to his experience from the inside. In Scar Tissue, Kiedis proves himself to be as compelling a memoirist as he is a lyricist, giving us a searingly honest account of the life from which his music has evolved.

Van Halen Rising: How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal

After years of gigging everywhere from suburban backyards to dive bars, Van Halen - led by frontman extraordinaire David Lee Roth and guitar virtuoso Edward Van Halen - had the songs, the swagger, and the talent to turn the rock world on its ear. The quartet's classic 1978 debut, Van Halen, sold more than a million copies within months of release and rocketed the band to the stratosphere of rock success.

Seven Deadly Sins: Settling the Argument Between Born Bad and Damaged Good

For the first time, Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor speaks directly to his fans and shares his worldview about life as a sinner. And Taylor knows how to sin. As a small-town hero in the early '90s, he threw himself into a fierce-drinking, drug-abusing, hard-loving, live-for-the-moment life. Soon Taylor's music exploded, and he found himself rich, wanted, and on the road. His new and ever-more-extreme lifestyle had an unexpected effect, however; for the first time, he began to actively think about what it meant to sin.

Gizowarfum Fleepaflop says:"Such a raw story from a deeply interesting artist!"

Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?: A Rock 'n' Roll Memoir

The son of a classical pianist straight out of the Bronx of old Archie comics, Steven Tyler was born to be a rock star. Weaned on Cole Porter, Nat King Cole, Mick and his beloved Janis Joplin, Tyler began tearing up the streets and the stage as a teenager before finally meeting his "mutant twin" and legendary partner, Joe Perry. In this addictively listenable memoir, Tyler unabashedly recounts the meteoric rise, fall, and rise of Aerosmith over the last three decades and riffs on the music that gives it all meaning.

When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin

They were the last great band of the '60s and the first great band of the '70s. They rose, somewhat unpromisingly, from the ashes of the Yardbirds to become one of the biggest-selling rock bands of all time - and eventually paid the price for it, with disaster, drug addiction, and death.

Kiss and Make-Up

There would have been no KISS without Gene Simmons, the outrageous star whose superlong tongue, legendary sexual exploits, and demonic makeup have made him a rock icon. KISS and Make-Up is the wild, shocking, unbelievable story, from the man himself, about how an immigrant boy from Israel studied to be a rabbi, was saved by rock and roll, and became one of the most notorious rock stars the world has ever seen.

Relentless: The Memoir

Yngwie Malmsteen's revolutionary guitar style - combining elements of classical music with the speed and volume of heavy metal - made him a staple of the 80s rock scene. Decades later, he's still a legend among guitarists, having sold 11 million albums and influenced generations of rockers since. In Relentless, Malmsteen shares his personal story, from the moment he burst onto the scene seemingly out of nowhere in the early 80s to become a household name in the annals of heavy metal.

Dirty Rocker Boys

Who could forget the sexy "Cherry Pie" girl from hair metal band Warrant's infamous music video? Bobbie Brown became a bona fide vixen for her playful role as the object of lead singer Jani Lane's desires. With her windblown peroxide mane, seductive scarlet lips, and flirtatious curves, she epitomized every man's fantasy. But the wide-eyed Louisiana beauty queen's own dreams of making it big in Los Angeles were about to be derailed by her rock-and-roll lifestyle.

My Damage: The Story of a Punk Rock Survivor

Keith Morris is a true punk icon. No one else embodies the sound of Southern Californian hardcore. Short and sporting waist-length dreadlocks, Morris is known the world over for his take-no-prisoners approach on the stage and his integrity off of it. Over the course of his 40-year career, he's battled diabetes, drug and alcohol addiction, and the record industry. My Damage is more than a book about the highs and lows of a punk rock legend, however.

Save Me from Myself: How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story

In February 2005, more than 10,000 people in Bakersfield, California, watched as Brian “Head” Welch—the former lead guitarist of the controversial rock band Korn—was saved by Jesus Christ. The event set off a media frenzy as observers from around the world sought to understand what led this rock star out of the darkness and into the light.

NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories

NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories is the first tell-all autobiography from one of the world's most influential and controversial punk bands. Fans and non-fans alike will be shocked by the stories of murder, suicide, addiction, counterfeiting, riots, bondage, terminal illness, the Yakuza, and drinking pee. Told from the perspective of each of the band's members, this audiobook looks back at more than 30 years of comedy, tragedy, and completely inexplicable success.

Heavier than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain

When Kurt Cobain died by his own hand in April 1994, it was an act of will that typified his short, angry, inspired life. Veteran music journalist Charles R. Cross fuses his intimate knowledge of the Seattle music scene with his deep compassion for his subject in this extraordinary story of artistic brilliance and the pain that extinguished it.

Publisher's Summary

Dave Mustaine is the first to admit that he's bottomed out a few times in his dark and twisted speed metal version of a Dickensian life.

Impoverished, transient childhood? Check.

Abusive, alcoholic parent? Check.

Mind-fucking religious weirdness (in his case the extremes of the Jehovah's Witnesses and Satanism)? Check.

Alcoholism, drug addiction, homelessness? Check, check, check.

Soul-crushing professional and artistic setbacks? Check.

Rehab? Check (seventeen times, give or take).

Near-death experience? Check that one, too.

James Hetfield, with whom many years ago Mustaine founded a band known as Metallica, once observed, with some incredulity, that Mustaine must have been born with a horseshoe up his ass. That's how lucky he's been, how fortunate he is to be pulling breath after so many close calls. And Hetfield is right. Mustaine has been lucky. He has been blessed. But here's the thing about having a horseshoe lodged in your rectum: It also hurts like hell. And you never forget it's there.

Mustaine has battled through it all to achieve dizzying heights. From the early, heady days of Metallica, being unceremoniously let go only to become a world-famous rock star - founder, front man, singer, songwriter, and guitarist (and de facto CEO) for Megadeth, one of the most popular bands in heavy metal - Mustaine's is a story that will inspire, stun, and terrify.

Great, great ,great... Excellent story for any/all Megadeth and Metallica fans or just metal/music fans in general. Great story full of all the details of Daves life. Alot about his Metallica days.. The Narrator sounds similar to Dave and does a great job. Very easy to listen to. I couldn't stop listening.. I have bought close to 60 books from audible.com and this is one of the best.. I also suggest Scar tissue from anthony keidis. I wish audible.com would get more heavy metal biographies. This one was awesome!!! Dave ROX!!!! Mike in Boston

I never liked Dave Mustaine, he always came across as kind of a jerk. This book confirmed all of my suspicions but also makes him a very sympathetic character. A lot of times he's his own worst enemy and he comes close to admitting that but in the same breath always manages to blame someone else. He's an alpha male rock star and being a jerk comes with the territory but Megadeth backs it up with a career filled with legendary songs. He has lots of great stories about Metallica, Megadeth, and the many people who came and left the band. He's very open and upfront about his substance abuse and the difficulties it caused. A lot of unintentional humor comes from hearing him tell a story and then imagining how other people in the room saw the same story play out but drew very different conclusions. The man is a legend but he's also the neglected kid who lashes out at everyone because he learned early on that no one was looking out for him so he would have to do it himself.

What did you like best about this story?

All the stories about early bands, Metallica, and all the Megadeth stories.

Which character – as performed by Tom Wayland – was your favorite?

Dave Mustaine. He does Dave better than Dave does Dave.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Angry Again

Any additional comments?

The narration is incredible. Tom Wayland sounds like Dave Mustaine and he delivers the stories with the intensity and righteousness that they deserve. I always liked Megadeth's music but never liked Dave himself. This book really helped me understand who he is and where he came from and why he is the way he is and it has a lot of great stories about the various band line-ups and the trials and tribulations of touring while addicted to drugs. I've read/listened to many musician autobiographies and this is one of the best.

I will preface this by saying I am a huge Megadeth fan and have been since the late 80's. This book is an uncut, gritty look into the business of rock and roll and Dave does not pull any punches here. He gives a brutally honest look at his life from a very young age through the inception of Megadeth including all the ups and downs it took to get where he is today. The book was a roller coaster of emotions ranging from hysterical laughter to sadness and despair. This book puts a lot of the pieces together for you on the history and reasons behind some of the untold Megadeth madness that you don't get to hear as a typical fan. I have always loved Megadeth and respected Dave as an artist and this book only elevated my respect for him. This is a true story of redemption and a reminder that no matter how far you have fallen, there is always hope.

Tom Wayland did an unbelievably good job narrating, he was the next best thing to Mustaine himself reading. I blow through a lot of audible books and he was truly excellent.

Loved this - I really had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't listening to Dave himself read these memoirs, the narrator captures every nuance of his voice superbly.
These memoirs are insightful and brutally honest, revealing a very intelligent, articulate - if not somewhat self-obsessed - man who is for the most part misunderstood.
It was a pleasure getting to know the man behind the music.

Being a huge megadeth fan for close to 15 years I wanted to read this book, but who am I kidding. I don't read....so once I saw this I jumped at it.

Quick overview but no spoilers.

This feels like Dave is just sitting there telling you his life story. It's very easy to listen to, if your a fan of megadeth then you'll have no problem listening to it.

He does go deep into what all he has tried, how it made him feel, as well as not pulling any punches. It does as well have a fair amount of cussing. So if that is a put off for you, then you might not want to listen to this.

And by the end he doesn't pull any punches about his faith in God/Jesus either. In making it clear that he's not a perfect guy, but the only way that he's still here is due to the fact God saved him.

As a Christian myself I loved hearing this story. In that aspect it felt like a huge testimony, more than a life story.

If you know anything about Dave Mustaine, you probably know something about his early childhood, the story of the Metalica betrayal, the frequent trips to rehab, etc.

But in this book, all of Dave's most meaningful moments - from childhood all the way through 2009 - is assembled and presented in a very honest and naked format. Although the narrator occasionally imposed his own influence on the story (e.g. heavy inflection on certain words can change the emotional intensity of a sentence or word), the description of important events of Dave's life and career provide a smorgasboard of psycho-analysis opportunities.

You get the facts from his side, but of course, there are other sides. And there are also plenty of different ways to interpret the events that Mustaine describes in sometimes painful detail, leaving you to wonder "why did he....?"

And in the process, you get the opportunity to see a man. A man neither evil nor saintly - never trying to portray himself as one or the other. Proud but not condescending. A man not so different than anyone else, with great strengths and weaknesses, with tremendous triumphs and agonizingly painful falls, who had to find his place in the world. His path is not the path most of us would take - and probably a path many couldn't survive. But it's an amazing listen. Since I take in audio books only when I drive or fly, I found myself looking for excuses to get on the road and take in the next few chapters.

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Kept me interested the entire story, with outstanding narration provided to put you in each setting. I have a serious new found respect for Dave, what a journey he has had! Explains and clarifies many misconceptions, and left me truly empathizing with him, best I could. Funny, sad, amazing, crazy, insightful, absorbing - it had it all. I hope he follows it up with an updated edition for 2016. Thank you Dave for sharing, and bearing your soul! Also, thank you for all you have contributed to music. Respectfully...

Great performance. Great story and insight. True honesty. Highly entertaining. I recommend this to anyone with even a passing interest in the genre.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

matthew

8/18/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Brilliant!!! "

Brilliant! very well read! shocking life story with a happy ending! and following Megadeth for all these years and listening to Dave's words of how it was just filled in the missing pieces of what I know it's a must aine for Megadeth fan fans highly recommend.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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